Pakistan: The army reported that on Sunday, Afghan border forces opened fire across the border into Balochistan’s Chaman area, killing at least six Pakistani nationals and injuring 17 others.
The military’s propaganda branch, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), claims that Afghan forces used heavy weaponry, including as mortars and artillery, in their firing.
In a statement, it claimed that “The Afghan Border Forces opened unprovoked and indiscriminate fire of heavy weapons including artillery and mortar onto the civilian population.”
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Casualties due to ceasefire
According to the report, six Pakistani citizens were killed and 17 others were hurt in the shooting.
According to Samaa TV, the injured have been taken to a nearby hospital, and the police have blocked off the area. The statement said that the border guards in Pakistan fired back in response.
The Pakistani government has contacted Afghan officials in Kabul to draw attention to the gravity of the issue and to demand stringent measures to prevent a repeat of this catastrophe.
The cause of the firing was unclear at first.
Additionally, the Afghan side’s losses were unknown.
Only a day prior to the standoff on Sunday, Pakistani authorities said that four Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K) militants had been slain by counterterrorism forces after being intercepted and killed not far from the Afghan border.
Eight people were hurt last month in the Kurram region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, including two children and three paramilitary soldiers, after some Afghans from over the border opened fire at them over a dispute regarding the building of a road.
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Both nations share 2600 km border
Afghanistan and Pakistan are separated by a dangerous 2,600 kilometre border. The Friendship Gate border crossing, which connects the Balochistan province with Kandahar in Afghanistan, is located in Chaman. It was shut down last month after an armed Afghan crossed into Pakistan and started firing on security personnel, killing one soldier and injuring other two.
Despite Kabul’s objections to the century-old British boundary demarcation that separates families on both sides, Islamabad has finished about 90% of the border barrier project.
The border has historically been a point of contention between the two neighbours and has been challenged by numerous Afghan administrations, including those supported by the US in the past.
The border, often referred to as the Durand Line globally, was established in 1893 and was determined after consultation with the Afghan government at the time by British civil servant Mortimer Durrand.
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